High-profile defendant arrested in Project Traveller raids is released after judge overturns earlier decision by a justice of the peace.

Muhammad Khattak appears at right in a picture taken with Rob Ford. Anthony Smith, on the left, was killed in the same gunfire incident in which Khattak was injured. Khattak was one of 43 people charged in the Project Traveller raids.

An Ontario Superior Court judge released Muhammad Khattak on bail Tuesday, overturning a decision made last month by a justice of the peace, who kept the 19-year-old gunshot victim behind bars.

Khattak was arrested at his Toronto home early June 13 as part of a police guns and gang sweep targeting an alleged criminal organization based in an area of apartment complexes on Dixon Rd., in the city’s west end.

While many of the other accused in Project Traveller are charged with multiple gangsterism, drug and weapons offences, Khattak faces just two counts: that of participating in a criminal organization by trafficking cocaine, and trafficking in a substance held out to be marijuana.

Yet Khattak has emerged as one of the higher profile defendants in the project, because he was shot in the back outside the Loki Lounge on King St. W. early on March 27. His friend, Anthony Smith, was murdered. The pair also appeared in the now-infamous photograph with Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, reputedly outside a west-end home police regard as a drug den.

Justice Gladys Pardu’s reasons for granting Khattak bail are covered under a publication ban. A Superior Court judge can overturn a ruling made by a justice of the peace if there is a material change in circumstance and if it can be shown that the JP, on June 14, erred in law when he refused to release Khattak.

The young man, who appears frail and considerably thinner than in the Ford photo, is allowed to leave his home only when accompanied by one of his parents, who are his sureties after pledging $100,000 each if he breaches his bail conditions. He also is banned from contact with all of his co-accused in Project Traveller and may not use a cellphone or landline. A trial could still be 18 months away.

Defence lawyer Nathan Gorham said he was not surprised by Pardu’s decision.

“He has no criminal record, no other outstanding charges,” Gorham said. “He’s 19 years old, and the charges, even at the highest, aren’t that serious — and there’s questions about the strength of the Crown’s case.”

Not covered under the publication ban is the agreed statement of facts read out in court June 27, when Nasir Hashimi pleaded guilty to manslaughter and aggravated assault in the killing of Smith and wounding of Khattak. He was sentenced to nine years in prison.

Court heard that Khattak and Smith are known by police to be members of the Dixon City Bloods — an alleged street gang targeted by Project Traveller — who instigated an attack on a member if Hashimi’s group outside the King St. W. bar.

In the ensuing melee, Hashimi admitted he pulled out a gun and fired at Smith, bullets striking him in the head and thigh, and wounding Khattak in the shoulder. Hashimi and Khattak are cousins.

Gorham said his client requires physiotherapy and possibly more surgery.